My last week had been a nightmare because of my laptop which was officially dead. I could not focus at work and I had trouble sleeping. It is sad and pathetic but I suppose that is a proof of how dependent I am to my laptop.
My laptop had been laggy for the past few days so last last Friday I decided to check task manager. Despite nothing running, it showed CPU 100% usage and after googling, one of the possible reasons might be problems with windows update. Yep, there was a windows update that had been failed installation for the past 1+ week. I switched off the laptop find on Friday and on Saturday morning, it was dead! I could not boot into windows after failed windows repair and clean up. I even waited for almost 24 hours for the "repairing disk..." but dead meant dead.
On Sunday I started emailing shops to find out what possibly could be the problem and how much it would cost to fix. It seemed that the hard disk was the problem and had to be replaced. That made me even more emo as everything in this laptop had not been backed up yet. Fuck :( I even tried to find technician at Carousell for alternatives. The one I found told me the same and he could fix it but I had to leave my laptop with him. Of course I had my reservations leaving my laptop to a stranger.
On Monday I asked my office IT technician but he was useless. He offered to take a look so I brought my laptop on Tuesday but he was seriously useless. He could not even give any information or possibility of the issue. In the evening, I went to one of the shops that I contacted and I was informed that it might take 3-7 days to get my laptop diagnosed and fixed. I could not afford to wait that long with my CPIP coming :(
I decided to search Carousell and I found another IT guy who was willing to come to my place to fix. He sounded very sure that he could fix my laptop and saved my data in 2 hours. We made appointment for Wednesday at 630pm but I was very restless and I decided to leave work at 3pm to take a nap.
He came late at 730pm and until 10pm, he could not get my computer revived. Sigh... 2 bad news: my hard disk seemed wiped out (sayonara my data...) and hard disk might not be the problem as he tried changing with another 2 hard disks that he brought but windows still could not be installed. Haiz.. However, I was very lucky because he refused to take any payment because "he did not manage to do anything". He even refused me paying for his taxi fare. What a sincere and pleasant guy. He advised me to go to Dell to get it fixed and then to update him as he was interested to know the problem and why he could not fix.
I could not find any Dell service center address or phone number in Singapore. Haiz. I grew even more desperate and my Thursday was spent on finding data recovery options and shops who might be willing to buy parts of my laptop. Data recovery is out since it would cost me $500++ I only found 1 shop who is doing buy back and I could possibly get $250-300 for this laptop. I bought this laptop in June 2016 for $850 and that means it cost me $600 for using this for 16 months. Haiz.. After work I went to Dell shop at Plaza Singapura and I was told that Dell has no service center in Singapore. They only have phone support. What.. the.. fuck..
I informed the guy from Wednesday about it and he offered to let him try again to revive my laptop as he did further research. However, this time I had to leave my laptop with him so that he could do it in his office. I was running out of option and as I had met this guy, I decided that I could trust him. I told him I would call Dell service center first and then update him.
I wasted my time off to take a day off on Friday. I decided that I did not want to prolong this agony much longer. If Dell was unable to help me, then I would just sell the laptop and bought a new one. Honestly, Dell technical help through the phone was quite helpful although it did not help any much more than the information that I had from the technician that came on Wednesday. So I contacted him again and he promised that he could fix and return to me by Saturday. I decided to take the chance as if it was still okay, I still could sell it and get a new laptop by weekend.
The guy was a saviour! He really managed to revive my laptop. Apparently the hard disk is really dead. So I spent another $200 to get a new hard disk and to pay for his service. It is a market rate and I am happy that he even included Microsoft Office. So after downloading Avast last night, my nightmare happened again as Microsoft triggered another update. It started at 10pm and even until 3am it was still updating. Thankfully in the morning when I woke up everything was back to normal. Fiuh..
From this experience, I swear that never I will ever buy Dell anymore. A hard disk breaks just after 1 6 months? What the shit seriously. My Acer survived for 10 years and I used it for longer period of time including many nights of songs. While this Dell laptop usage is much much more minimal. Not to mention that Dell has not physical service center. Jeez..
I learnt from the technician that usually home use laptop, or those cost $1000-ish with 1 year warranty, usually will not last long. Those almost hitting $2000 are the ones for office use are usually more durable and that's why the warranty is also 3 years. No wonder my Acer is quite durable.
With that, this Dell laptop basically cost me $1050 in total. If it cannot last beyond 5 years, it is basically worse than the $2000 Acer which lasted about 9 years (it is still alive in its 10th year now but its wifi is dead lol). I don't know if I should go to Apple or I should give Windows a chance. One thing for sure: the next brand I will buy will be Lenovo. Many offices and companies use Lenovo laptop so I suppose it should not be so shitty as this Dell.
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